“Therefore we were baptized with death and were buried with him, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too should walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4).
What is the physical process that occurs when a person is baptized? If we are looking for a Biblical answer, there is no evidence that baptism was ever anything other than complete immersion in water. The prophet John, sent by God to prepare the way for Christ, was said to have “baptized at Enon near Salim, because there was plenty of water there” (John 3:23). We are told that “When Jesus was baptized, immediately he came up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him” (Matthew 3:16). In Acts, in the account of Philip’s baptism of the Ethiopian official, the text says that “As they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, ‘Look, there is water! What prevents me from being baptized?’ And he ordered the chariot to be stopped, and both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him. And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord took away Philip, and the eunuch saw him no more, but went on his way rejoicing” (Acts 8:36-39).
In the New Testament, baptism represents the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ—a physical act that shows that a person is dying with Christ in obeying the gospel. Paul reminded the Colossians that they were “buried with him in baptism, in which you also were raised up with him through faith in the mighty work of God, who raised him from the dead” (2:12). And for the Romans, He used this analogy even more broadly (Romans 6:3-5). So if we allow Scripture to decide the issue, we must conclude that baptism is immersion.
Practically speaking, this burial and resurrection in baptism symbolize the beginning of a new life, so to speak. A new human being has come into existence, Whose loyalty is now to Christ and not to the world. And above all other blessings, what this new person now has is hope—the hope of eternal life (Titus 1:2; 3:7).
Buried with Christ, my blessed Saviour,
Dead from the old life of foolishness and sin;
The devil may call, the world may plead with me,
There is no voice that answers from within.
(for Chisholm)
Gary Henry – WordPoints.com AreYouaChristian.com
